Definition (descriptions) of troll

[Benjamin Barrett]

 From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

In Internet terminology, a troll is often someone who comes into an
established community such as an online discussion forum, and posts
inflammatory, rude, repetitive or offensive messages designed
intentionally to annoy or antagonize the existing members or disrupt the
flow of discussion, including the personal attack of calling others trolls.

...

    * Off topic messages: Those that are irrelevant to the focus of the
forum. This can also be done in the middle of an existing thread to
attempt to hijack the thread, or otherwise change the topic at hand. Off
topic messages usually occur when a member has been completely disproved
in a serious debate, thus causing that member to use his or her other
multiple pseudonyms for the purposes of changing the subject matter.
These disruptions may result in the degeneration of a well informed
thread into a heated juvenile exchange consisting of insults and
childish accusations between multiple parties.
    * Page breaking: Filling up fields with large pictures or characters
to make previous posts unreadable. A skilled troll will use an extremely
wide and narrow picture that blends into the forum background to make it
harder to catch.
    * Offensive media: Annoying sound files or disturbing pictures in a
message, or linking to shock sites that contain such media. Often these
links are disguised as legitimate links.
    * Inflammatory messages, including racist, sexist, classist or
otherwise needlessly hateful comments.

    * Opinions stated as fact: Posting messages expressing their own
opinions as generally accepted facts without offering any proof or analysis.

    * Spoiling: Deliberately revealing the ending or an important part
of movie, book, game etc.
    * Bumping an old discussion, or rehashing a highly controversial
past topic, particularly in smaller online communities.
    * Constantly answering questions with questions in an attempt to
infuriate others.
    * Misspelling a poster's name in such a way as to belittle and anger
that person.
    * Promising nonexistent pornography to people who post in the forum,
producing an interminable flood of "please send" messages (especially
common in the alt.sex Usenet hierarchy in the mid-1990s) [4] [5]
    * Defensive trolls
    * Radio station trolls - promoting their station

...

Precise definitions of "troll" have been difficult because such
definitions rely on assumptions about internal motivation, which have
been difficult to conclusively prove.

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